"Last year, dear lady, you said you loved the white snow, and the
sleighing, and the merry bells, and wished that winter would last all the
year round."

"Ah! yes, nurse; but I did not know how many pretty birds and flowers I
should see in the spring and the summer; and now they are all gone, and I
shall see them no more for a long time."

"There are still a few flowers, Lady Mary, to be found; look at these."

"Ah, dear nurse, where did you get them? How lovely they are!"

"Your little French maid picked them for you, on the side of the
mountain. Rosette loves the wild flowers of her native land."

"Nurse, do you know the names of these pretty starry flowers on this
little branch, that look so light and pretty?"

"These are asters; a word, your governess told me the other day, meaning
starlike; some people call these flowers Michaelmas daisies. These lovely
lilac asters grow in light dry ground; they are among the prettiest of our
fall flowers. These with the small white starry flowers crowded upon the
stalks, with the crimson and gold in the middle, are dwarf asters."

"I like these white ones, nurse; the little branches look so nicely
loaded with blossoms; see, they are quite bowed down with the weight of
all these flowers."

"These small shrubby asters grow on dry gravelly banks of lakes and
rivers."